Is Ben Wallace worthy of a $100 million contract?

Yes

No

Not sure

I have not read the new Max Salary clause in the CBA yet. Given the past CBA teams re-signing a vet can pay more than teams offering so Pistons will have the upper hand.

I agree with Merc in a shorter contract since 6 years from next summer would find Ben Wallace as a slow footed 38yr player making who knows what.

One thing for sure I would not want to go up against Ben Wallace in the 2007 playoffs. He would totally school Darko. Simply blocking Chicago from getting him would be worth a couple extra mil.

Don't worry about it - nothing has changed. Signing Ben in 06 has been the plan all along.

Plus the hard cap will steadly increase over the years so the Pistons will not be in as bad of shape as Blakely and others speculate. Just means some cuts will have to be made with the bench. Should have enough for all 5 starters plus Darko and 1-2 other decent bench guys. And Sheed strikes me as the type of player that would not play past his prime.

I hope the 100 Million figure is a joke. You don't go "re-paying" a player, just because you got them on a good deal before. That's not how it works. And certainly no other team is going to offer him a deal to make up for the years of ONLY making 6-7 Million (*Single Tear*).

The fact is we gave him more than anyone else was willing to offer at the time. Does this mean Chauncey is going to get 100 Million as well? I mean, HE is the undisputed leader of this team, and is now the least paid starter on the team. At least Chauncey will still be very productive into his upper years, since most of his value comes from shooting and leadership. With Ben, no one really knows what to expect. He can't shoot to save his life, and all of his rebounding/defensive skills are based on being a great athlete. When it comes to those skills, they go down sharply at the age he's at.

No other team will pay ben 100 million unless they want to mess up this franchise. Defensive players don't get as much respect as offensive players, and it has always been like that and it will always stay like that. plus i think Ben will decide to stay here probably even if he doesn't get as much money.

No other team will pay ben 100 million unless they want to mess up this franchise. Defensive players don't get as much respect as offensive players, and it has always been like that and it will always stay like that. plus i think Ben will decide to stay here probably even if he doesn't get as much money.

Click to expand...

I think Mutombo was an exception, being a defensive great and getting a max contract in his 30's? Not that it was a wise idea from the teams' standpoints, of course.

I think it is prudent to pay a player like Ben for previous performance, although maybe not at the 6y/100m level. If the Pistons' didn't, it would make them look cheap and *could* look to other players as if they exploited him, lowering the team's reputation among potential free agents. Dumars has avoided this in the past with lesser players and would be loath to do it with the team's marquee player in these glory years.

Also, someone mentioned that Ben can earn more from endorsements in Detroit - not sure about that, compared with the market size and $ in Chicago, for example. But there might be another side to the equation - he is the most marketable of the Pistons players and Mr. D certainly earns more money from advertising and TV revenue with the Fro on the team. So if Mr. D can earn an extra 1$m a year with Ben, adding that 1$m/y to a contract makes sense.

Also, someone mentioned that Ben can earn more from endorsements in Detroit - not sure about that

Click to expand...

Keep in mind Jman Ben's royalties on the the fro wigs...he's got to be making a couple of bucks a piece on those things. If we want to keep him here we should all buy a fro wig.

I say no to a max contract for Ben. Rosters change so quickly in the NBA...when we played Dallas the other night it was mentioned that Nowitski was the only player left from their 2003 playoff roster. As long as Joe hasn't promised him anything I think Ben may have to move on to get the max.

This is a difficult decison. In my opinion, Ben's current effort is definitely enough to warrant being one of the higher paid players in the league. If Ben was his offensive equivalent, this probably wouldn't even be a debate. If Ben could continue his same level of play for another 6 years, I could see where that amount of money is fair according to his worth and production. The unfortunate thing is that I'm not extremely confident that will be the case. Ben is a very physical player which I think will weigh on his longevity in the league. On the other hand, the development of Darko and the reemergence of Dice on this team may have extended his longevity in this league another couple of years. I would be inclined to say that a compromise is needed.

Kill a year off the contract, and call it a day.

Otherwise, I would vigorously try to sell Ben on the idea of taking less money to preserve a core that has an opportunity to be a dynasty. That is a legacy that has value in itself.

..and if you get stuck...sign him.

We could do far worse. At that point in time, I venture to say that a declining, hard working Ben will probably still be better than half of the league.

Ok, so if Ben failed on Shaq, how did we win the 'ship on 2004, and beat the Heat in 2005? Seems like Ben did well enough to get past the "100 million dollar player that single handedly carries the team to victory". Isn't that Shaq? Didn't Ben play longer into the post season than Shaq?

Let's just say we choose not to keep Ben, and instead look for someone who can guard Shaq and put up 20 points per game. Do you have any candidates? Anyone in the league who can defend like Ben and score like KG? That isn't Ben, KG, or Shaq? (ohmygod... if you say Darko...)

Click to expand...

elden did the job on shaq in 2004 and in 2005 not ben. shaq was handing ben his hat. in 2004 the lakers would often go away from shaq and his obvious dominance against ben. but if you look at the hands shaq still has way more rings than ben .that's why he demands 100 million add him to your team and you're instantly a contender not the case with ben. look at what shaq's 100 million dollar contracts are doing in the places he plays. they are restricting what other types of players the team can put around him. now you can build around shaq and kg but you can't build around ben. he's too 1 dimensional.

we don't need a 20 point player that can defend shaq. we need a player that will play at a high enough level to win that doesn't restrict us to the point that we have to destroy our core in 2 years because we can't resign players. then go to the lottery.

scoring 20 points on the pistons is hard to do if you aren't the # 1 option on offense. but on another team yes i believe darko could put up 20 and defend shaq. darko's problem right now defensively is foul trouble.

I can't see giving him more than four years at about $12m-$13m per year. If you give him, say, six years and $90m, you're paying him in the $20m range when he's 36 or 37. I love Ben, but no player (probably not even Shaq) is worth that kind of money at that age, especially when you look at that in conjunction with Tay and Rip toward the end of their contracts (not to mention potentially Chauncey, Darko, etc.).

I really don't think the issue is going to be the money per se. Ben isn't about money. But he WILL want to feel like he's being treated fairly, and that (the equity of the deal) will be the bigger thing for him (I would guess).

I don't think Ben, if we keep this strictly on the court is anymore valuable than Rasheed. They both have things they do better than the other, and together they are an awesome compliment. I feel that you pay Ben somewhere between $1-$2 mill more than Sheed is chedeuled to make in the 06-07 season, and you ink him for 4 years. Pays him an avg of around $15 mill per for 4 years. That gives us great flex in the future, expiring contracts are like Gold in this league now-a-days.
So let's say we give Ben a 4 year $60 mill deal
Year 1 (06-07)$13,000,000.00
Year 2 (07-08)$14,300,000.00
Year 3 (08-09)$15,600,000.00 (Final year off Sheed's deal about $13 mill
Year 4 (09-10)$16,900,000.00 (Sheed off books all together)

Now in 08-09 & 09-10 we have big expiring contracts that can be traded very easily.

Kgreg, I agree with the $'s and length... I just want to see them give Ben a large signing bonus up front and keep the backend of the deal down.
This way it cost us much less in the long run for the lux tax.
If you give him the $'s up front it would be before Darko's new contract and before Rip, Sheed, Tay & Prince get into major $'s.
It would also make his salary match closer to his performance & PT as he gets older.

Kgreg, I agree with the $'s and length... I just want to see them give Ben a large signing bonus up front and keep the backend of the deal down.
This way it cost us much less in the long run for the lux tax.
If you give him the $'s up front it would be before Darko's new contract and before Rip, Sheed, Tay & Prince get into major $'s.
It would also make his salary match closer to his performance & PT as he gets older.

Yeah it can be done... Boozer got a big bonus up front (now has same salary for each year)... I believe Odom also got a nice signing bonus.
It still goes on the cap.
Most teams don't like doing it this way because it throws them into the Tax in the first year... but we've got some substancial contracts growing at the same time.

Kgreg, I agree with the $'s and length... I just want to see them give Ben a large signing bonus up front and keep the backend of the deal down.
This way it cost us much less in the long run for the lux tax.
If you give him the $'s up front it would be before Darko's new contract and before Rip, Sheed, Tay & Prince get into major $'s.
It would also make his salary match closer to his performance & PT as he gets older.

I think they should give Ben whatever it takes to keep him but only up to the point that they feel it may jeopordize the immediate future of the franchise. At that point you thank him for everything he has given and let him know there will be something for him (a positon) when he retires.